Contents

Appearance

Atsushi with his hair pulled back

Murasakibara is abnormally tall for someone his age. Standing even taller than Papa Mbaye Siki, he is one of the largest players seen in the entire series. He has shoulder length, lavender hair that touches his back and violet eyes.

He wears Yōsen High's jersey with the number 9. During the fourth quarter of the match against Seirin High School, he is seen with his hair pulled back into a ponytail. He has also been seen wearing a white "Tonicwater" t-shirt paired with unbuttoned khaki overalls.

Personality

Contrary to the impression his height gives, Murasakibara acts very lumpish. He fools around at serious times, which is not always well received. He is mildly sadistic and childish. He claims that the only reason he plays basketball, is because he's good at it, he doesn't care for the sport at all. He has always told others that he dislikes, is bored by and even hates players who play basketball with passion, even when they are losing. However, it is hinted that he actually likes basketball from the bottom of his heart due to his activation of Zone.[1] In accordance with his childlike nature, he has a sweet tooth and is seen eating sugar-related foods all the time, except during a match. It is also mentioned that Murasakibara spends every single penny he has on all kinds of junk food.

Angered Murasakibara

According to Kuroko, Murasakibara isn't the calm type, and was actually quite the opposite while playing with the Generation of Miracles. He used to be very active in the attacking lineup during his junior high school days at Teikō, and even set a record of scoring 100 points in a single game when he was enraged. However, since basketball bored him, halfway, he became less aggressive and had been limiting himself to defensive plays only. His actual specialty is offense. During the match against Seirin, Murasakibara was startled when Seirin managed to cut Yōsen's lead from 18 points to just only 5. Murasakibara claims that it is pointless for the weak to struggle any further and then switches to offense after being enraged.[2]

The actual reason of his lazy attitude towards the game is because if he gave his all and went all-out, he may hurt his opponents or even teammates with his huge size. But when he was matched up against Jason Silver who is bigger than him, he smiled for the first time in a game for he doesn't have to worry on anything while giving his all.

Murasakibara also has the tendency to be with people who can make decisions for him. In Teikō, he was always obedient to whatever Akashi ordered him to do. In Yōsen, he is seen listening a lot to Himuro's advice.

History

When he was young, Murasakibara was invited by kids in the streets to play mini-basketball.[3] Murasakibara is seen at the tryouts for the Teikō basketball club. His name is called as one of the four freshmen who made it into the first string of the club, a feat never been done before.[4]

Murasakibara and Kuroko dispute

At the beginning Murasakibara did not get along well with Midorima, but after Kuroko proposed a 3 on 3 match, the dispute was settled. Due to their large difference in outlook as athletes especially towards basketball, Kuroko and Murasakibara would often find themselves arguing over hard work versus talent. Murasakibara claims that hard work is worthless if you don't have talent and that there is no merit in even trying. While Kuroko does acknowledge Murasakibara's point, he disagrees that hard work doesn't pay off. Kuroko who loves basketball and experienced loss and hardship could never agree with someone like Murasakibara who does not love basketball, receives nothing but victory.[5] Despite their differences, Kuroko and Murasakibara did get along when it came to other things, and would usually go get ice cream together along with Aomine, Kise, Midorima and Momoi.

As the Generation of Miracles talent began to bloom, Murasakibara became arrogant and refused to come to practices because he felt they were unnecessary. He challenged Akashi and claimed that he would not follow anyone weaker than himself. Akashi accepted the challenge and awakened his "Emperor Eye winning the 1 on 1 match. Despite winning, Akashi allowed Murasakibara to skip practices as long as he scores baskets during matches.[7]

After the graduation, Murasakibara met with the other members of the Generation of Miracles and made an oath to battle against the rest to see who is the strongest.[8] After the graduation, everyone went their separate ways, and went into different high schools hoping to win in events.

Story

Interhigh

Murasakibara is first seen after Kaijō and Tōō match in the Interhigh. He is walking in the hallways, eating his usual candy and is noticed by Kagami, who was amazed by his enormous height. He is called by his teammates and is revealed that he was lost. He walks past Kuroko, who is bent over tying his shoelace and when Kuroko hears Murasakibara's name, Murasakibara disappears behind a corner and Kuroko was unable to greet him.[9]

Later on in the series it was revealed by Momoi that during the semi-finals of the Interhigh, Murasakibara did not show up for the match against Rakuzan High. This was because he refused to play against Akashi, his former captain and now-captain of Rakuzan, and resulted in Yōsen High's defeat.

Pre-Winter Cup

Murasakibara meets with Kuroko after a long time

Murasakibara went along with his teammate Himuro to the Street Basketball 5 on 5, even though their school Yōsen High doesn't let students participate in out of school activities. He got lost and wandered around the terrain, being noticed by Seiho High.[10] He finds Himuro about to play against the Seirin High freshmen and interrupts the match by placing his candy bar on top of the flying ball at the tip-off.[11] He reunites with Kuroko for the first time since Junior High school and jokes around by first threatening him, but then patting his head, which annoys Kuroko.

As some other players asks Murasakibara about the Interhigh, he responds that he didn't play because Akashi said so. When the referee asked Murasakibara to clear the court, he remembers that he came to stop Himuro from playing. As they are about to leave, Kagami stops them and challenges Murasakibara to play. Murasakibara declines and makes fun of Kagami's eyebrows. Kagami then tries to persuade him by saying that he's too scared to play, which annoys Murasakibara and he agrees to play. Himuro and him join an unknown team in order to play against Seirin.[12]

Winter Cup

Meeting of the Generation of Miracles.

Murasakibara appears at the Winter Cup when Akashi called the Generation of Miracles for a meet-up. When Kuroko arrives and Aomine makes a comment on him bringing Furihata along, Murasakibara notices that Aomine has brought Momoi as well.[13] As always, Murasakibara is eating something sweet, this time a chocolate bar. When he finishes, he tries to open a bag of chips, fails and asks Midorima for his scissors, but Midorima refuses. Akashi finally arrives and after dealing with Kagami, takes his leave. Akashi then says that it seems that the Generation has not forgotten the oath they made.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Quarter-finals

Murasakibara blocks Kagami's open shot

In the quarter-finals, Murasakibara and Yōsen face Seirin. Murasakibara easily outjumps Kiyoshi during the tip off and gives Yōsen possession; however this is overruled by the referee as he jumped before the ball had reached its maximum height. Possession is then awarded to Seirin, who begin a series of quick passes on Yōsen's perimeter. Hyūga then attempts a jump shot, but Murasakibara shows off his fast reflexes by blocking Hyūga's shot. Seirin get the offensive rebound and use Kuroko to change the trajectory of the passes, freeing Kagami for the open jump shot inside the three point arc. However, Murasakibara blocks him and Masako notes that he is not only big and fast, but he also has a huge wingspan. She says that the entire area inside of the three point arc is "his domain".[15]

Yōsen scores their first points, but after the inbounds pass, Kuroko throws a full court pass to Izuki who runs up the court, but is confronted by Murasakibara, who is not participating in the offense. Masako says that although she doesn't like players who don't run up and down the court, the Yōsen defense is complete with Murasakibara himself. Murasakibara grabs the rebound from Hyūga's missed shot over Kagami and Kiyoshi, and passes the ball ahead.[16]

Murasakibara is unable to block Kuroko

As the second quarter begins, Kiyoshi attempts to lose Murasakibara using a spin move, but Murasakibara scorns Kiyoshi for believing that he could pass him with such a skill and blocks him. Kiyoshi then reveals that he had a different plan all along and throws an alley-oop to Kagami who attempts to dunk, but is blocked again by Murasakibara as his height and wingspan helped him block Kiyoshi's first attempt without jumping, thus enabling him to block Kagami. However Kagami manages to throw the ball out to Kuroko, leaving Murasakibara shocked as he thought Kuroko couldn't shoot. He then moves to block Kuroko, but is amazed as Kuroko's Phantom Shot disappears and falls into the hoop, giving Seirin its first points of the match.[17] He then tells Kuroko that he is surprised that it was Kuroko who scored the first basket for Seirin.

In a subsequent play, the last of the second quarter, Kuroko manages to score another basket past Murasakibara with the Phantom Shot, and the score stands at 29 – 17 with Yosen up. In the locker room, Masako notes that Kuroko will likely be benched when the match resumes. Riko and Masako then come to the conclusion that the most important match-ups in the third quarters will be between Kiyoshi and Murasakibara and Kagami and Himuro. Murasakibara resolves to "erase" Kiyoshi.[18]

Murasakibara vs Kiyoshi

Confronting Kiyoshi in the third quarter, Murasakibara tells him that he won't be able to do a thing against him, to which Kiyoshi replies that he won't know that unless he tries. On the next possession, Kiyoshi gets the ball and faces Murasakibara who says that he'll crush Kiyoshi just as he did in Junior High school. He then asks Kiyoshi why he's trying to beat him when he knows he will fail, to which Kiyoshi replies that striving to be the number one team in the Nationals is fun. He then asks Murasakibara if he finds basketball fun, irking him. He then goes for a double clutch layup but is blocked by Murasakibara. Izuki gets the rebound and passes it back to Kiyoshi who has retreated beyond the three point arc. Kiyoshi then knocks down the three to Murasakibara's surprise, but he quickly recovers, deeming the basket a fluke.[19]

Murasakibara blocks Kiyoshi's shot

On the next possession, Kiyoshi, playing point guard, drives past Fukui and positions himself for a jump shot. Murasakibara moves out to block him but Kiyoshi quickly passes to Izuki who drives toward to hoop. Murasakibara and Ryū are there to block him, but Kiyoshi notes that Izuki's Eagle Eye has evolved enough to enable him to make a play. In the stands, Aomine notes that Seirin will break Yosen's defense on this possession as Murasakibara takes time to land after a block attempt, thus allowing Seirin to pass the ball and make a play during that short interval. As predicted, Izuki throws an alley-oop to Kiyoshi, who dunks the ball over Murasakibara, Okamura, and Ryū.[20] Much to Murasakibara's rage, Seirin is able to repeat the play in their next possession, with Kiyoshi drawing him out by faking a jump shot and then passing to Izuki, who finds the open Hyūga for a successful three point attempt.

Murasakibara moves to offense

Kagami is then put back into the game, and after blocking Himuro, rushes towards Murasakibara on the fast break. Although his dunk attempt is blocked, Murasakibara realizes that he was attempting a shot that went wrong. In a subsequent Seirin possession, Kiyoshi manages to out-jump Murasakibara and successfully dunk on him, after Izuki missed a three pointer. After this, a play by Kiyoshi enables Kagami to dunk on Murasakibara.[21]

This move finally enrages Murasakibara and he resolves to "wring the pride" out of Seirin, participating in the Yōsen offense for the first time. Araki states that she never expected this to happen, and thanks Seirin for firing up Murasakibara, who she calls "the beast". On the bench, Kuroko mentions that Murasakibara once scored 100 points in a single game when he got serious. He posts up Kiyoshi, but Hyūga and Mitobe soon join in, Hyūga stating that their main objective is to stop Murasakibara.

Murasakibara's 180 dunk

Kiyoshi tells him that he never intended to beat him alone to begin with, but Murasakibara doesn't even acknowledge the triple team. He pushes all three back, and when he gets the ball, he jumps into the air, his back facing the basket and performs a 180 dunk, called the Tornado Dunk, knocking Kiyoshi, Hyūga and Izuki to the ground. Seirin then attempt a fast break to catch Murasakibara off-guard, but are shocked to learn that he is equally fast over both long and short distances, as he outruns Izuki and prepares to defend Seirin's fast break. Kiyoshi attempts a layup but then converts it into a pass to avoid Murasakibara's block. However Murasakibara swats the pass away with his left hand and dunks on the Yōsen possession so powerfully that he brings down the hoop, leaving a shocked Seirin wondering how they can possibly "stop this beast".[22]

Murasakibara looks down upon Kiyoshi

Murasakibara then proceeds to block Kiyoshi again and mock Seirin, saying that he didn't even need to get serious if this was all Seirin could do. Kiyoshi then attempts to catch a rebound using Vice Claw, but Murasakibara rebuffs him and shocks the spectators when he uses a Vice Claw of his own. He then takes the ball coast to coast and dunks on Kagami and Kiyoshi, sending them sprawling to the ground. Kiyoshi, having reached his limit, is unable to get up, but Murasakibara pulls him to his feet, telling him that, like before, he was unable to win in the end. He adds that with Kiyoshi gone from the game, Seirin would surely lose, and asks him whether he would still think basketball was fun after all this. As Kiyoshi exits the game, he tells Kuroko to win, and Kuroko tells Murasakibara that he will beat Yōsen for Kiyoshi. Murasakibara doesn't take him seriously, but Kuroko then says that he will not lose to someone who looks down upon the efforts of others, prompting Murasakibara to shout that Kuroko's ideals made him sick.[23]

Murasakibara tries to block Kuroko's Phantom Shot

Kuroko then passes Ryū and goes for the Phantom Shot, but Murasakibara, after being warned by Himuro, blocks the basket so that Kuroko can't see it properly. Kuroko then throws a high alley-oop to Kagami, who successfully dunks the ball. An angry Murasakibara prepares to post up, but is shocked to see that he is being guarded by Kuroko. Murasakibara turn around and jumps for the dunk, but is confused by Kuroko's lack of presence and knocks him to the ground, getting called for the offensive foul. Murasakibara then says that Kuroko is really beginning to annoy him.[24]

After Kagami asks Riko whether Seirin can replicate Yōsen's formation, with him defending the paint area, Murasakibara dunks on him twice. After being rebuked by Kise, Kagami does everything what he can and eventually entered the Zone. He then successfully blocks both a normal dunk and Murasakibara's Tornado Dunk (Thor's Hammer), even sending the latter to his knees, leaving him shocked. With Kagami continuing to dominate, Yōsen calls for a timeout. Murasakibara seems to have given up after seeing Kagami's strength and asks to be subbed out, angering his teammates, especially Himuro, who punches him, both out of anger and envy at Kagami's abilities. After hearing Himuro out, Murasakibara resolves to 'be in the fight until the end'. Seirin, noticing Murasakibara's face after the punch from Himuro, wonders if there had been a fight, but Kagami says it is exactly the opposite, and that Murasakibara and Himuro's chemistry exists because "they hate losing".

Kuroko hits the ball out of Murasakibara's hands

The match goes on and each team continues to dominate the other's defense, with Seirin trailing by a small margin. Kiyoshi then returns to the game, but guarding Himuro instead of Murasakibara. As Seirin is on the verge of taking the lead, Murasakibara suddenly manages to enter the Zone during the last 20 seconds. In this state, Murasakibara nearly overpowers Kagami on a dunk attempt, but the latter is assisted by Kiyoshi in stopping the dunk. As the fast break starts, Kagami is surprised to see that Murasakibara has already reached the other side of the court, proving that he really has entered the Zone. Kagami performs a final Meteor Jam, outjumping Murasakibara for the basket and the lead. Refusing to give up, Murasakibara had already ran to the other side of the court, preparing for one last dunk to win the game. However, he finds himself unable to jump because Kiyoshi playing point guard forced him to jump continuously and his knees have reached their limit. Murasakibara, knowing a dunk is unnecessary, as his height and nearness to the basket will allow him to easily score with a layup, goes for the final shot, but Kuroko blocks him before he can, securing the victory for Seirin.[25]

Semi-finals

Himuro and Murasakibara arrive at the Winter Cup

The first semi-finals game of the day was Shūtoku High vs Rakuzan High, which Murasakibara and Himuro go to watch. They arrive in the building as the match is about to start and it appears that Murasakibara reluctantly went along with Himuro, in exchange for a junk food. Himuro asks Murasakibara's opinion on the match and he simply replies that he can't imagine Akashi losing.[26] He is later impressed about Midorima's improvement.[27] During halftime, Murasakibara tells Himuro that Akashi's power is one "that negates everything". As the 2nd half starts, Akashi steals Midorima's ball and Murasakibara explains the system of Akashi's eyes, how they can detect his opponent's movements and use it against them.[28] As the match ends, Murasakibara says that a 16-point difference is around what he expected, though he noted that it can still be contested.[29]

The next semi-finals, Kaijō High vs Seirin High commences and Murasakibara and Himuro stay to watch. As Kise goes full-power from the get-go, they witness his "invincible" Perfect Copy.[30] He seemed to be a little bit annoyed that Kise managed to stop the "Phantom Shot" of Kuroko, while he himself failed to stop it.

Finals

Together with his team (except Himuro), Murasakibara goes to watch the finals and meets Tōō Academy on the way. Both teams greet each other and Aomine tells him that even though they last met at the opening ceremony, it feels like it's been a long time. Murasakibara asks Aomine who does he thinks will win both matches today. Aomine says the it has already been decided for the Third Place Match, since Kise is on the bench and Kaijō can't stop Midorima, but doesn't know for the Finals so that's why he went to watch.[31]

EXTRA GAME

He watched the Exhibition match of Team Jabberwock vs Team Strky with his teammates on TV. They totally made fun and laughed at Okamura's new haircut upon seeing him as one of the participants. He asks Himuro if Team Jabberwock is really that amazing, which he replies 'same rank or perhaps even higher than the Generation of Miracles'. However, they saw total humiliation and were totally speechless.

Along with other Generation of Miracles, Kuroko and Kagami, he was called out by Kagetora Aida to play for "The Dream Team" against Team Jabberwock. As usual, he displays his lazy attitude upon meeting but nevertheless, showed up. Kuroko and Kagami arrived followed by Riko and Momoi who will serve as the team and assistant manager. Just as Akashi asked if there are any substitutes, Wakamatsu, Takao and Hyuga enter the scene to be the backup players. Kagetora explained that the 3 players were called to keep the balance of the team. The 1-week practice begins and the players are synching up well, though Riko thinks it's not perfect yet. Then, they reviewed the players of Jabberwock with Silver standing out as the person who have 'the body that God picked'. It means that he is more agile than Aomine, has more jumping power than Kagami and is more powerful than Murasakibara. While the other two were all hyped up, Murasakibara is bothered as he is mostly the one to defend Silver. On the other hand, Akashi admits that Gold has some abilities that restrains his, shocking them but assures that he will win. The practice continues.

6 days later, the team is all-ready for the upcoming match tomorrow. Kagetora leaves for Roppongi and Kuroko secretly followed him. Eventually discovered that he's missing and smelling trouble, the others rushed to Roppongi and found him kicked by Gold. As they picked Kuroko and leave, Akashi swears that they will be the ones to crawl and lick on the floor.

The day of the match has come and the audience are thirsty for revenge. Murasakibara wins the tip-off and Akashi gets the ball, quickly doing an alley-oop to Aomine who scores with a dunk. The match is favoring the Vorpal Swords, though the 1st quarter ended with only a 4-point lead. What's more surprising is that the Generation of Miracles are already sweating much at the very first quarter despite the Jabberwock not showing their true strength yet, which bothers Kagetora.

The 2nd quarter begins with Silver driving past Aomine and overpowering Murasakibara with a dunk. Then, he blocks Akashi's fadeaway shot and does a two-handed windmill lane-up while outrunning Kise and Midorima in the fastbreak. Silver has dominated the quarter, widening Jabberwock's lead to 9. With 5 minutes left in the quarter, the Vorpal Swords decided to sub out Akashi and Midorima for Kagami and Kuroko. Murasakibara tried to assert that he can handle Silver but was convinced by Akashi that it's for the best. Holding down Silver in the post with his whole body, the latter spins past him and is met by Kagami inside and blocked with Aomine's help. Kuroko starts the fastbreak and Kise gets the ball, passing to Kagami and dunks. An enraged Silver tries to retaliate and spins past on Kagami and Murasakibara's double-team but is met by Aomine and got the ball stolen. Kise dunks on the fastbreak and the 2nd quarter ends with Jabberwock leading 40-36.

The 3rd quarter starts and Gold seemed different from before. Sensing this, Kise decided to focus entirely but was stunned after Gold made an insane fast pass with no preliminary movement. Kuroko made an alley-oop pass to Kagami but is blocked by Silver in the air. Gold continues to distribute those insane fast passes with no preliminary movements, always leaving the defenders stunned. On one play, Murasakibara bleeds after getting dunked on by Silver who is not even using his full strength yet. Jabberwock's lead widened to 19 (61-42). Vorpal Swords call a timeout. Kagetora explains that Akashi's ability to drag everyone into the zone cannot be done for two reasons. First is, the players are already exhausted and won't last for rest the game and second is that for some unknown reason, Gold is inhibiting his ability. But Akashi assures that they can still win as long as Gold and Silver are kept under control. To do this, he has Murasakibara defend the no. 6 and 7 players of Jabberwock while Kise and Aomine team up to stop Silver while he will mark Gold. The match resumes and Silver seems surprised by the sudden change in the two. Kise activates his Perfect Copy while Aomine enters the Zone.

Akashi tries to go for a steal but Gold denies him the ball and passed him with a between the legs half-spin. As Gold approaches Murasakibara in the paint, he used his eyes' wide field of vision to pass the ball to no. 8 who scores with a 3-pointer, leaving Midorima's mark. Everyone was surprised the way Gold utilized his 'eyes'. Gold stated that he has the "Demon Eyes".

Not wanting to lose, Akashi uses his own streetball style of dribbling and passes behind the back to Aomine. Aomine goes for a formless shot but is blocked from behind by Gold and
proceeded to perform an anklebreak on Akashi in the fastbreak. Kagami tries to stop him but still scored with a double clutch layup and drew the foul. Feeling
that he has to take over, Murasakibara helps Akashi who is in total shock and
tells him to give the ball in the post and ties his hair.

The Vorpal Swords decided to run their offense through Murasakibara. Silver provokes him but was surprised when he suddenly backed him down in the post and spins. However, Murasakibara was blocked and Silver scores. Remembering Okamura's teaching in the post, Murasakibara finally gets it and smiles for the first time in a game, which was like Kagami's as noted by Kuroko. As Silver can't back him down, he decided to shoot a fadeaway instead but was blocked by Murasakibara and dunks against him
on the other end. Silver was shocked to see Murasakibara suddenly overflowing with strength. Murasakibara continues his dominance until Silver intentionally collides with him, causing Murasakibara to fall and (presumably) break his wrist. It's never properly explained how Silver got away with such a move.

Skill

Physical Ability

10/10

Technique

10/10

Stamina

9/10

Mental Strength

8/10

Special Ability

9/10

Murasakibara getting "fired up"

As one of the Generation of Miracles, Murasakibara skills are superior and unrivaled to any other high school center. Murasakibara is described as the most natural talented amongst the Generation of Miracles as his height is 208cm (6' 10"), which is the average height for a center in the NBA. He has a long wingspan, long legs, and even large hands. He relies on all of these aspects to get rebounds, block shots, and dunk. Because he doesn't "like" basketball, he prefers staying on defense; but even then, he doesn't feel like blocking if he doesn't want to.[32] At important matches like in the Winter Cup, he is forced to do his best and his skill is truly shown.

During the match against Jabberwock, Kise mentioned that Murasakibara could hurt his opponents or his own teammates, should he ever go all out, and until he met Silver, Murasakibara believed no one could match him in terms of physique and strength. With an opponent like Silver, Murasakibara can go all out. He is shown playing with an expression that Kuroko recognized as "similar to Kagami's when he goes against a strong opponent."

Defense

With Murasakibara's arms and legs being especially long, this allows him to take giant steps to catch up easily and block a shot. He has been seen blocking shots from Hyūga and Kagami when the ball is underway, so much higher than the take-off. He can also tower above all the team's centers and catch the rebound easily. The entire area inside the three-point is his domain, which means that no one can escape from his absolute defense. According to Aomine, Murasakibara is so strong that even he has difficulty bypassing him.

After being taught how to guard the post against bigger and stronger players by Okamura, he is able to block Silver's shots twice.

Vice Claw

Murasakibara using Vice Claw

Just like Kiyoshi, Murasakibara can use his big hands for rebounding the ball with only one hand. Instead of jumping towards the ball with both hands, he has gained the ability to rebound the ball with only one hand. This gives him the advantages of recovering the ball much quicker and with a longer extension. Murasakibara acquired this skill after watching Kiyoshi demonstrate it. [33]

Offense

Murasakibara's devastating force

Not only is Murasakibara capable of blocking and rebounding, he can also contribute on offense with incredibly powerful dunks. His colossal size and juggernaut strength are more than enough to overpower three defenders and dunk over them, as seen in the match against Seirin. He has also been seen doing reversal dunks with ease, a feat that requires much more power than a normal dunk; facing away from the rim requires more strength to compensate for the momentum gained from running towards the basket on a normal dunk. At the peak of his destructive power, he was even able to bring down the entire backboard.[34]

When Murasakibara was on the offensive, it was also seen that, contrary to his seemingly sluggish attitude and overwhelming size, he could easily sprint both short and long distances up and down the length of the court. He even outran Izuki and got back to defense easily. He is also shown capable of handling the ball on both ends all by himself. His scoring ability is so great he has scored 100 points in one game.

After being taught by Okamura on the post, he no longer uses wasteful movements that hamper him from using his full power. Murasakibara is able to overpower a player like Jason Silver, whose physical abilities are beyond genius basketball players, when he plays without holding back.

Thor's Hammer

Thor's Hammer

Murasakibara's signature dunk is known as the Thor's Hammer, and consists of a two-handed dunk combined with a mid-air spin. Its execution involves Murasakibara posting up under the basket, receiving the ball, and jumping and spinning 180 degrees in mid-air.[35] Because of the momentum from Murasakibara's size and weight during his mid-air turnaround, he is able to overpower opponents without losing altitude during his jump. Thor's Hammer has been seen to easily overwhelm three defenders simultaneously.

According to Aomine and Kise, in terms of ability, he meets the requirement to enter the "Zone" but unfortunately, he would never be able to because he was assumed to not have the most basic term needed, the love for basketball. However, their assumptions were proven wrong when Murasakibara surprisingly entered the Zone. At the brink of despair and exhaustion against Seirin High, including Kagami already in the Zone, Murasakibara opened the gates of the Zone. His power grew substantially and his speed was even greater than before.[36][37] Also, Kagami needed Kiyoshi's help to block his Thor's Hammer (though Kagami's Zone was coming to an end at the time). However, not much of this was shown, since Murasakibara's body was near exhaustion and Kagami's Meteor Jam ended the game before Murasakibara could.

After the match, Murasakibara claimed to quit basketball, but broke down in tears not soon after. This makes clear that Murasakibara does have a burning passion for basketball, in contrary to what was previously believed, which enabled him to enter the Zone. Furthermore, the main condition for him to enter remains unknown.

Relationships

Kuroko and Murasakibara have a rather up-and-down relationship because when it comes to basketball, they're complete opposites. Murasakibara plays basketball effortlessly and claims to have no passion for the sport itself, while Kuroko loves basketball and clawed his way up, even with his lack of talent. Off the court, it was shown in the Replace novels that they got along quite well, with Kuroko even buying or winning snacks for Murasakibara to try. However, in Junior High school, they once got into a huge fight due to Murasakibara humiliating a member of the second-string from playing basketball again, causing Kuroko to flare up in anger.[38] After Seirin defeats Yōsen, Murasakibara claimed that he hated basketball and would stop playing. Kuroko, however, smiled later on and said that there was no way Murasakibara really hated basketball.[39] Murasakibara stated in the Characters Bible that he got along with Kuroko the least.

Akashi is the member of the Generation of Miracles whom Murasakibara respects the most. Akashi is one of the few people whose commands Murasakibara willingly complies to. In the Replace novels, it was revealed that Akashi was also quite gentle towards Murasakibara, promising to give him the bag of sweets as a prize for winning a Shogi tournament. It was also revealed during the Teikō days that he was the reason Akashi finally awakened his Emperor's Eye and abled him to beat Murasakibara in a 1 on 1 despite being on the verge of losing by 4-0. Since then, he has respected and feared Akashi highly and has always listened to him; he even didn't play in the Interhigh semi-finals against Rakuzan during the Inter High only because Akashi told him not to.

Kiyoshi is the type of person which Murasakibara hates the most: the type who never gives up and passionately loves basketball, even if they don't have the talent. Murasakibara defeated Kiyoshi before in Junior High school, even hating him back then already because of these reasons.[40] They later re-encounter each other during a Street Basketball 5 on 5, with Murasakibara not recognizing Kiyoshi at first. He later recognizes his persistence and his will to crush Kiyoshi down fires back up.[41] Kiyoshi was Murasakibara's first rival in the Winter Cup, purposely focusing on defeating Kiyoshi early on in the match. Kiyoshi uses this to his advantage to provoke Murasakibara purposely, causing others to say that even though he "looked honest, he's actually pretty sly". In the end, Murasakibara succeeded in breaking him, but Kiyoshi still didn't give up and returned nonetheless.[42] Kiyoshi also understands that Murasakibara doesn't really hate basketball. After their loss, Murasakibara now seems to acknowledge Kiyoshi's strength along with the other players of Seirin watching their semi-finals match against Kaijō.

Himuro is another person who can keep Murasakibara on a leash, often doing it with snacks. Murasakibara stated in the Characters Bible that Himuro was the one who he got along with best in his current team. He nicknames Himuro 'Muro-chin' while Himuro calls him by his first name, 'Atsushi'. Himuro often drags a reluctant Murasakibara to watch matches with him. Himuro is also envious of Murasakibara's talent and during the Seirin vs. Yōsen match, punches him when he refused to play anymore. Himuro broke down in tears, stating that it drove him crazy when talented people took things for granted. Murasakibara, possibly moved or guilty due to Himuro's tears, started to play in the match seriously.[43]

Quotes

"'I hate practice but I hate losing even more."

"It's so disgusting that I feel like puking. All these things you guys seek: hard work, guts, faith. I'll crush them all. Everything."[44]

"You can't win against absolute height. Any petty ideals are made obselete by me."[45]

As shown in Replace, Murasakibara and Kuroko got along surprisingly well as friends during their early days at Teikō. It was later in time that their different opinions on basketball led them to clash, making Kuroko the former teammate with whom Murasakibara fought most often. Still, Kuroko has stated that he likes Murasakibara as a person.

Murasakibara hates crows, the reason being that because they make weird noises.

Murasakibara has 3 older brothers and 1 older sister.

He hates carrots, because he hates vegetables.

His top three favourite dishes were:

Cream stew

Dolsot Bibimbap

Squid Ink Pasta

Murasakibara can eat a whole box of popsicles in the winter if he’s sitting under a kotatsu. [51]

He believes Kuroko has really good luck when it comes to winning free stuff from snacks. He eats snacks all the time and never wins anything. However, Kuroko doesn’t want to use his luck on something like that. [52]

Murasakibara and Kuroko get along really well, except when Kuroko starts talking about basketball. Then Murasakibara just gets annoyed. [53]

He is the only one to break the 'newer-style' backboard, where while the glass doesn't shatter, the back extension collapses, bringing the backboard down rather than shattering the glass or just taking the rim off like Kagami did.[54] Shaquille O'Neal, while being at nearly 30kg heavier than Murasakibara, had done it in every way possible in his career before the current-style backboards are introduced after the mid 90's because of his power and strength.[55][56]

Murasakibara has a body size and defensive skills comparable to Bill Russell(6'10", 215-220 lb), but Russell is left-handed, and wore no.6, just like Midorima does for Shutoku, and Russell never snatches rebounds with one hand, and would try to keep the ball in play after blocking shots.

Unlike O'Neal's 'Black Tornado' (a move Andrew Bynum copied in his rookie season)[57], Thor's Hammer can directly dunk from right after the pass is received. Shaq's version of 'Thor's Hammer' is less commonly performed.[58][59]